An ‘invisible door’ created by former Formula 1 racing car designers is helping to boost booze sales from an Irish service station convenience retailer’s ‘beer cave’.
The AirDoor Curve uses fans to manipulate air flow, to keep the cold air within an area of convenience store Hanlon’s Gala in Longford without the need for a door.
Hanlon’s Gala said it had sold 35% more beer in July this year compared to July 2024, before the AirDoor was installed.
The technology – which uses no heating or cooling components and requires “no extra energy costs” for the store owner – has been developed by Oxfordshire-based Wirth Research. The company – which now specialises in designing energy-saving products for retailers – was the first to design an F1 car without the need of a windtunnel, using computational fluid dynamics to model the aerodynamics of its designs. The technique was used by founder Nick Wirth who used to design racing cars as an engineer for Simtek, Benetton and Virgin.
“This technology has really helped our store to stand out,” said store owner Patrick Hanlon.
“Being the first of its kind, I have been blown away by the increase in beer sales, especially during the summer months. Being able to sell the larger cases of beer really helps our store to stand out,” he added.
Hanlon attributed the sales boost to being able to keep entire beer range chilled, as well as the lack of a physical door creating a “more inviting atmosphere for prospective customers”, without spilling any cold air into the wider store.
“It takes early adopters like Hanlon’s Gala to show that these types of products deliver such a solid ROI,” said Wirth.
“Refrigeration remains a major source of energy usage for retailers. We want to prove that we can create products that use less energy and also improve customer comfort, and ultimately sales,” he added.
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